Process for artificially graining wood



Dec. 20, 1927. 1,653,481

E. E. SPARGO PROCESS FOR ARTIFICIALLY GRAINING WOOD Filed Nov. 2. 1927 Patented Dec. 20,1927.

*- UNITED STA TES EDWIN ERNEST SPARGO, or BRUivswIoK, ivrnnnonnnnvicroam, AUSTRALIA.

riaoonss non ARTIFICIALLY GRAINING WOOD.

Application filed November 2, 1527,2eria1 No.

This invention relates'to a process of artifically graining or altering the existing grain of wood, for the purpose of imparting thereto grain like figurings or designs, such for example as fiddleback, wavy, mottled or other kinds of figuring or surface ornamentation. V I

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved process for graining or altering the grain of wood, which is simple and inexpensive in practice and enables a wide range of grain like figurings or surface ornam'entations to be readily and permanently imparted to the wood. The process according tothe'present invention is characterized primarily by two steps. The.

first step consists in sub ecting the surface of the wood to the pressure of a die member or members, provided with corrugations, serrations, ridges, projections or of any suitable formation whereby the surface of the wood is correspondingly in dented, grooved or pitted, .whilst the second step consists in subjecting thesurface so treated to a planing, bulfing, sand papering or such like smoothing operation which'is carried on to a depth just sufficient to remove all ridges and the like formed by the die or dies andto leave the surface of the wood perfectly" smooth and substantially flush with the bottoms of the grooves and otherdepressions which were formed therein by thedie or dies. The compression "of the wood at the bottom of the grooves or the like by the action of the die or dies results in'the planed or smoothed surface of the wood being permanently and effectively figured according to the design or grain effect required. The wood may then, if desired, bevarnished, stained, French polished or treated with any suitable coating. T 0., render the figuring or surface ornamentation more distinct, the wood may, prior to treatment by the die or die members, be moistened with a solution of carbonate of soda, an aniline dye or any other suitable agent having the desired effect. When producing fiddleback, wavy mottled and in fact most kinds of figuring, grooves, indents and the like formed by the die or die members will extend approximately at right-angles across the existing grain markings of the wood which are thus combined with or. altered by the artificial markings'so asto ensure a perfect imitation of the naturalfiguring. The improvedprocess may the like,

mation in a framework the accommodated in bearing blocks 'may be slidably mounted formed in each side or end 230,636, and in Australia July 2, 1926.

be readily applied to hard and soft wood and, by the use of appropriately shaped die members, material of square,-angle, round,

half-round, quarter-round or any other cross section or moulding may be readily treated either over the entire surface or any desired portion thereof. i w l 5 Referring to the drawings which form part of thisspecification j T Figure 1 is aside elevation of an apparatus which may be used for grooving or indenting the Wood in accordance with the improved process. l g V Figure 2 is a viewlooking in the direction of the arrow in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side .view of co -operating die members which-may be usedforgrooving or indenting wood of difierent cross sectional shapes, in accordancewith the invention. I I Figure 1 is a side; elevation of another form of apparatus which may be utilized to groove or indent the wood in accordance with the invention; r 1

According tothe apparatusillustrated in Figures 1 and 2, two die members in the form of rollers 6 are mounted insuperposedv formaybe grooved or indented as it passes between the rollers. Each roller may, if desired, be corrugated or serrated around its periphery as indicated at 9 so that both sur faces of the material may be grooved or indented simultaneously. If it is desired to treat one surface only of the material 8, one of the rollers may be plain or devoid of corrugations and the like. I 1 r The corrugations or serrations of the-rollers maybe of any desired formation according to the figuring or .surface ornamentation it is required toimpart. The corrugations preferably extend lengthwise of each roller and they may differ onefronr another inheight and in width, and may merge into each other orintersect, if so desired. The rollers may also be provided with projecting knobs or peaks if such are required to pro-' ducethe figuring or ornamentation.

Each roller 6 may have spindles 11 projecting from its ends,th'ese spindles being 12- which of theframe 7. The bearing blocks for the upper roller may be carried at the lower ends of rods 141 which are connected adjacent their upper ends to arms 16outstanding from the ends of 7 so that the wood 8 in guideways 13 rial.

a transverse spindle 17 suitably supported by the frame 7. A lever 18 maybe connected to and outstand'from this spindle, and, if desired, may be provided at its outer end with a weight 19, whereby the upper roller may exert a substantially constant pressure upon the material passing between the rollers irrespective of the thickness of the mate- If the material tapers in thickness, the upper roller will rise or fall auton'iatically to accommodate itself to the variations in thickness as the material is fed between the rollers. To permit ofvertical adjustment of the upper roller, each of the said rods 1 1 may be provided with a series of vertically spaced holes 21, any one of which may be brought into registry with a hole 2:5 through the outer end of the adjacent arm 16 so that a pin 23 may be inserted in said oo- Before the wood is subjected to grooving or indenting, it may be moistened or impregnated with .a solution of carbonate of sodaor anyother suitable agent which tends to darken the wood, so that when the grooved orlindented surface of the wood .is

carbonate ofsoda if so desired.

subsequently planed or smoothed, the artifi- ,cial figurings ormarkings will show with in creased clearness. lVeak aniline dyes or other solutlons may be employed in heuof The grooving or indenting may be ren- -;dered more efficient by providing for the rollers 6 to be heated during their operation. For this purpose a gas supply pipe v26, provided with outlet orifices 27, may e2;-

tend adjacenteach roller 6 so that the flamejets issuing therefrom impinge against the periphery of the respective roller.

.The wood may. be passed one or more times between the rollers and subsequent to such treatment the groovedor indented surface or surfaces-of the material maybe planed or sand-papered,or both, to render the same perfectly smooth. Thissmoothing operation is carried out to sufficient depth to render the new surface substantially flush with the bottoms of the grooves or indents which were formed'by the diemembers. Al-

though the surface of the material is thussmoothed the figurings O1"111lI'lI1I 1gS produced by the die members will be clearly visible. The material maynow be varnished or polished if so desired.

When dealing with wood of angle, round,

semi-round, and other cross-sectional shapes or mouldings, the rollers 6 may have circumferential channels of appropriate size and shape as indicated in Figure 3. instance, to impart figuring or surface ornamentation to wood of angle section, one roller may be provided with a circumferential channel 31 of the required cross section, the surfacesvof this channel being provided with suitable corrugations, serrations or the like 32. The co-o ierating rollermay be plain or devoid of grooves or indentations adjacent the channel'31. For treating material of quarter-round cross-sectional shape, one rol'ler may have a circumferential channel 33 of arcuate shape which is provided with corrugations 34 or the like whilst the other rollermay have a circumferential channel 36 of angular shape which may be devoid of such corrugations. For; treating material of half-round cross-section, one roller may have a circumferential.channel'37of halfround shape which is provided. with corrugations or the like 38 whilstthe other'roll- .er is of normal diameteradjacentthe channel 37. and may be devoid of corrugations or the like. For treating material of completely-round cross-section both rollers may be provided with circumferential channels 39 of half-round shape, both of which maybe provided with corrugations 4-1 or the like.

It will be evident that the rollers may be v Forprovided with various forms of circumferen-,

tial channels for grooving or-, indenting a surface or surfaces of. material of various different cross-sectional shapes. i

Although pairs of co-operazting *rol'ldrs have vbeen describech'it will be evident that a single roller may be employed in con junction with a co-operating memberof any other suitable form, such for-instance as flat or curved plate which may be stat-ionary and may or may not be provided with corrugations, serrations or the like. Furthermore, a corrugated roller may be rolled over the material whilstit is stationaryupon a suitable supporting surface.

Instead of utilizing one or more rollers,

the die members for grooving or indenting the ivood may consist of plates assembled within a suitable press as seen, for example,

in Figure 1. In this figure, a die plate 42 may be mounted on the fixed base t3 of the press in aligmnent'beneath a co -operating the plate 14 carried by a presseiwplate 46 operated by means of a screw 47 which passes through a screwed boss ofthe frame 1480f the press and is fitted with ,an, operating handled-9 at its upper end. Either. orboth of these die plates .42, {44, may be provided with any suitable formation of corrugations or the like as indicated at 51 and provision may be made for the rapid" interchanging of the die plates. In this embodiment, the wood to be indented or grooved is placed upon the lower die plate 42 and the upper die plate 44 is lowered by manipulation of the handle 49 to subject the material to pressure. The grooved or indented surfaces of the material are subsequently smoothed as before described.

Having now described my invention What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is v y l. A process for imparting grain-like figurings or surface ornamentations'to wood, which includes forming grooves under pressure in the surface of the wood which ex- 7 tend transversely of the natural gram there-' of, and subsequently smoothing); the grooved surface of thewood to thereby remove all ridges or progections and to leave the surface thereof substantially flush with the bottoms of said grooves.

2. A process for imparting grain-like figurings or surface ornamentations to wood, which consists in moistening the wood, then forming indentations under pressure in the surface of the wood, and subsequently. smoothing the indented surface of the Wood to thereby remove all surface irregularities and to leave the surface substantially flush with the bottoms of said indentations.

3. A process as claimed in claim-3 wherein the wood is moistened with a solution of carbonate of soda prior to the formation of the indentations.

In tQStlHIOIIY WlIGPQOf I aflix my signature.

EDWIN ERNEST SPARGO. 

